Monday, April 28, 2008

This is journal #3 in a smaller size. It was so easy to put together that I made it as an additional small present for a friend of mine. I added a small tag done from the same fabric paper the journal is made from. I just sewed a small pocket from silk paper onto a sturdier page in black.

Friday, April 25, 2008

This is a felted brooch I made as a birthday present for a friend of mine. I felted velvet and organza onto black kunin felt, then added some Oakshot fabric and specialty yarns. Afterwards I stitched the outer border and some knots and added some seed beads. Next week I will take a class with Sara Lechner and hope to be able to really use my embellisher afterwards.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Just returned from an incredibly intensive class with Elsbeth Nusser-Lampe. I think I never learnt so many techniques in two days. We worked with painted Tyvek, Vliesofix, gold foil, we quilted and stitched like mad. Everything was very carefully demonstrated and explained, there were many examples to look at including inspirational material. Elsbeth Nusser-Lampe had two books and two leporellos with her to show different ways to bring our work together. Now I have to decide to do a book or a leporello. At present I tend to the latter form since this is one I never did before. On the other hand all examples are made as a sandwich with background, so finishing them and then binding them to a book would be as easy. Besides I would have to paint and perhaps stamp my Pelmet in order to have a decorative background for the leporello binding.....I you have the opportunity to attend a class with this artist, jump to it! It is so revarding.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Just unpacked the wind sculpture we bought during a trip to Bavaria. Two ever so slightly rusted raven that are now flying their endless circles in our garden. Both my husband and me immediately fell in love with this sculpture. These birds look very absurd especially since most of the time they are flying backward....

I was incredibly lucky to buy this autograph book at an ebay-auction. Normally they are extremely expensive, especially when they are as complete as this one. Entries start 1888, and the book is completely filled with poems and the like, some even on both front and back page. The script is the so called "Sütterlin" style which I myself learnt during second grade. This was a short project which was supposed to help us improve our handwriting abilities. However it is very difficult to read the entries because I don't remember all the letters, it is too long ago and I never used it except during those few months at school.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The second journal of the online class with Sue Bleiweiss is done! This is what really lured me into the class. I had seen sketch journals in Sue's Etsy shop and loved them at once. I would have ordered one but didn't like the colors or the fabric of those she offered. Now I made one of my own and I am really happy with it. The inside fabric (of the pocket) is a Stoll Weber-fabric (I absolutely love what she does with fabric). The outside is a piece of Sherryl Khan-fabric I bought last year in Berlin. The photos don't show the color of the inside background fabric correctly: It is a very deep dark purple (Oakshot fabric). The closure is a piece of bark I treated with UTEE. I particularly like the outcome of that experiment.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I wonder if I say it often enough it will actually happen. The photo was from Monday noon. In the meantime all the snow has turned to water. And more water is coming down from above.... It doesn't get light all day. Normally I don't care much about the weather, but this kind of weather drives everybody over the edge. The only consolation I have is the online class with Sue Bleiweiss. Making her journals really brightens the day. My second journal is finished and I will post the photos with the next post.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

This is the first journal I made in an online class with Sue Bleiweis. After finishing the journal itself I was not very satisfied. However tonight I woke at 4.00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. While tossing in my bed I began thinking how I could improve the journal. First of all I did not like the way the linen yarn from sewing the signatures in showed on the backside. So I decided to hide this by adding vintage buttons to the spine. Then I thought of the stamping I could add as well as the tags I could make to go with the journal. After playing around today I am quite satisfied with the outcome. I now really like what I did and do not only think of it as something done just to learn a technique. At last I also added some German scrap papers. I love these because they remind me of my childhood where we collected them and glued them into small books. There are not many occasions I can use them today so I jump to the opportunity.

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van Balzer

About Me

I am a textile artist creating mainly art quilts and dabbling in mixed media technique.
Besides I am mother of three adorable grown up kids and happily married to a mathematician. My Chinese sign of the zodiac is the dragon, hence the name dragonquilts for this blog.